Thursday, March 20, 2014

Dead Awakenings by Rebekah R. Ganiere: Interview and Excerpt

INTERVIEW

Welcome! Thanks for taking time to answer some of my questions. It's great to host you today! Where do you dream of traveling to and why?Ireland, England, Scotland, Italy. The first three I dream about because they are so amazingly beautiful! I would be totally happy living there in a cottage, writing and raising my family! I mean seriously, with Amazon.com you can get anything shipped to you now, so there's no need to ever leave my house! But honestly, I've always dreamed of going to Italy and Ireland. Greek Mythology has always intrigued me and so has history, so I'd love to go to where the arts started. And I can tell you why I want to go to Scotland in one word: Kilts. That's all I'm sayin'!

Does travel play in the writing of your books? It hasn't so far, not outside the US anyway. Mostly because I've never been outside the US and I like to write about places I've been before. I fear writing about places I've never been and then having it be inaccurate. But again, Kilts! I might write something there soon!

Tell us about your current release.

Dead Awakenings is an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance about Evaine Michaels a struggling theater student who enters an unsanctioned drug trial in an effort to pay some bills, and wakes up chained to a hospital bed with no memory of who she is or how she got there, to find she'd become, A Deader. Rescued by the gorgeous and deadly Luca, Evaine must find the strength to become who she was meant to be, while fighting the rages, hungers, and lusts that now rule her existence.

Tell us about your next release.My next release is Red the Were Hunter. The first in a series of Fantasy Romances, Fairytale Retellings, slated to be released in May 2014. It came in 2nd place in the Hook, Line and Sinker contest and I'm excited for it to be released. The second book in the series, Snow the Vampire Slayer is slated for Summer 2014 and there will also be another book in the series out in time for Thanksgiving and possibly Zelle and the Tower by New Years.

When in the day/night do you write? How long per day? Whenever I can. I'm a SAHM of four kiddos that I Homeschool, so I have no set writing schedule. I try to write in the mornings and evenings when I'm not, schooling, driving, driving, cleaning, cooking, driving. Did I mention I drive a lot? LOL! I have been known to take my enormous 20 inch laptop to piano lessons, violin lessons, acting classes, auditions, dance classes and just about everywhere else I have to go, just so I can write while sitting in the car.

What is the hardest part of writing your books? Knowing when they're good enough and letting them go. I always feel there is something I don't know, haven't learned yet that can make the book better. I have a writer friend who has to tell me when to back away.

What does your significant other and family think of your writing career? They love it. My husband talks about me all the time. My girls have started to love telling their stories and my baby boy pretends to be the zombies, vampires and werewolves in my stories. It is fun to have them proud of me and what I'm doing and it's heartwarming to see my three daughters look at me as someone they want to be like. Well…my eleven and eight year olds want to be like me. My fourteen year old doesn’t. But then again, she's a teenager soooooo…

Does your significant other read your stuff? A bit. He is super busy. He's a producer and so he reads a lot of scripts. I've read him two or three of my books, but when I started putting the sex in my books, I stopped. It just makes me giggle to read that to him.

Do you have critique partners or beta readers? Yup! I have some awesome ones! I am always looking for beta readers, but I have four awesome critique partners that I love.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned while writing your books? How much fun it was and how my characters run the show. I always thought I wrote the books, but I don't. My characters do. I am constantly surprised at what they do. And I find myself laughing out loud or tearing up when they say and do things.

Who are your books published with? Dead Awakenings is with Etopia Press. The Fairelle Series is with Fallen Angel Press, and I have two other books under submission right now.

Plotter or Pantser? Why? Plotzer! I plot out 20 plot points in my book and then let the characters decide how to get there. If I don't, the throw a tantrum and the sit down on the floor and refuse to move until I let them be in charge again.

What was the scariest moment of your life? I can't go into detail but when my little boy was learning to crawl he was injured pretty badly. That was the scariest moment. My husband has also been in five car accidents in the past 4 years…yeah…I'm lucky he's alive.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An actress and a Mom. I went to college on a theatre scholarship. I love the theatre!

What are your favorite TV shows?

Teen Wolf (goofy I know but Derek Hale, Oh my!)

Scandal (Wow!)

Hemlock Grove

Downton Abbey

People's Court (Don't ask!)

Haven

There are so many other shows I LOVED up until about a season ago, but at one point or another they fell apart and ticked me off so I stopped watching.

What songs are most played on your Ipod?

Just Give Me a Reason - Pink

Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri

Roar - Katy Perry

Brave - Sarah Barreilles

Cups - Jean Simon

Darkside - Kelly Clarkson

U + UR Hand - Pink ( basically everything Pink!)

What is your favorite meal? Sushi and tempura! I also love udon soup.

What makes you happy? My kids. They're my life. I love them. They are so sweet, so hilarious and so much fun to be around. They make me truly happy.

Evaine, a struggling New York theater student, enters an unsanctioned drug trial in an effort to pay bills.She awakens in a derelict hospital, chained to a bed with no memory of who she is, or how she got there.A band of pale skinned men, led by the gorgeous Luca, burst in, whisking her away to safety.

Once at Haven House, Evaine is introduced to The Family. Like them, she has become A Deader, a reanimated Undead.

Luca is hell-bent on stopping the experimentations, and killing those responsible. He has no time for a Newborn who is struggling to control her rages, hunger, and powers. Nor does he have the desire to deal with the feelings she's awakening within him.

Despite their best efforts, Evaine and Luca find their connection intensifying when suddenly, she remembers not only who she is, but also her fiancé, Tristan; who is still looking for her.

Torn between her first love and her new heart’s desire, Evaine runs back to Tristan putting everyone in danger. When a rogue faction of Deaders, called Feeders, attempts to kidnap her, Luca suspects Evaine is the key to the experiments.

Can everyone band together to keep Evaine off the cutting table of those she escaped from? Or will second death tear her away from everyone, for good?

Excerpt: Chapter One

Warm, thick air filled Evaine’s lungs; it was going to rain. She gazed up at the clouds rolling in. They blanketed the sky like waves of dirty cotton. Stormy weather, her favorite, but she didn’t want to get caught in the rain today. The laundromat was a luxury she could not afford right now.

Picking up her pace she headed toward the office of Mac, her fine arts adviser. The wind picked up as she crossed the quad, and the first droplet of water hit her cheek. She pulled down the long sleeves of her worn-out shirt. The thin hoodie was about as good at keeping out the chill as paper would be keeping out a charging bull.

Evaine’s mind began to drift as she fought through students rushing to get out of the drizzle. Without permission, her brain turned to her overdue bills. Trying to live on meager grants and student loans was harder than she would have thought, considering how she’d grown up. Her rent had been due a week ago, and she wondered why her pitbull of a landlord hadn’t been banging down her door like the last million times her rent had been twenty minutes late. Not that the very small studio—hole—was worth what she paid. Maybe she would be better living on the street. She needed to come up with some cash, fast.

The voice of her mother, Phyllis, chimed in. Life would be easier if you’d let Tristan help out.

Sigh…Tristan. She absently rubbed her finger where the huge diamond ring he had gotten her rarely sat. She refused to wear it for the sheer size, not to mention that she didn’t want to let anyone know she was engaged at the age of twenty. Some people would think she was marrying Tristan Atwater for his money. Her mother had tried to teach her for years how to use her body to catch a man of means. But Evaine couldn’t stand for anyone to find out she shared even one shred of DNA with the woman who had birthed her. Phyllis had used every man she’d ever known. No way was Evaine going to take a penny of Tristan’s money to pay for anything until they married; and she didn’t think she would ever get used to it, really. She’d always prided herself for being able to stand on her own.

She refused to rush into marriage. Not in her second year of college, not even to a guy as wonderful as Tristan. The only man she’d ever loved; the only good thing to ever happen to her. He was her security blanket. The only person she had ever relied on and trusted. But she’d never let his money be her security. Between his trust fund and the money he made at his job he could more than pay for five penthouse apartments on Park Avenue. She may have been a foster system reject brought up in a trailer park, but that didn’t mean she had to act like one.

Couldn’t hurt to ask for a few dollars. Phyllis’s voice was again in her head.

“Hey, Evaine!”

The wind whipped her hair into her face as she lifted her head. “Hey, Jeff.”

“Where you off to?” He fell into step beside her.

“I need to see Mac.” She continued toward Mac’s office building.

Jeff was a sweet guy, not bad looking either, in a sort of geeky way. He had kind eyes and shaggy, curly surfer blond hair. His tall, lean frame had a nice build. For the second time since getting engaged she was reminded that she’d never even dated another man beside Tristan.

Last year when they'd done a rendition of Taming of the Shrew together, Jeff had been especially nice to her. He’d asked her out a couple of times. Every time she’d made up excuses about schoolwork or her job—anything. She hadn’t been sure what to say. No one knew about Tristan, and she wanted to keep it that way. She wasn’t ashamed of Tristan, by any means. She just didn’t like all the attention that came from dating him.

Most girls would brag about a rich VP of marketing boyfriend and a gigantic, five-carat diamond ring. But she was still wondering what Tristan had been thinking when he’d bought that lighthouse beacon for her to wear on her hand.

About the Author:

Rebekah grew up on both the east and west coasts and currently lives in the Los Angeles area. From the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein to The Stand by Stephen King, Rebekah immersed herself in other people's made up worlds. She began writing in junior high and then found she liked pretending to be other people's characters in high school. Lettering in drama she went on to study theater in college as well. After college she continued acting till becoming a mom. Ultimately, she ended up going back to writing her characters down instead of acting them out, so she could stay at home with her kids.

Rebekah is a member of Romance Writers of America and is a board member of both the Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal and her local Los Angeles chapters.When she isn't spending time telling the lives of the characters constantly chattering inside her head, you can find her with her husband and four children; reading comic books, gaming, at the movies or taking care of the menagerie of pets. A dog, a rabbit, two bearded dragons, and three tortoises. Wonder woman, the escaped snake, has yet to be located.

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